The legacy of the original Fantastic Four films from the early 2000s hasn’t been the prettiest. However, the duology’s director Tim Story has finally addressed perhaps the most controversial aspect of those films: the redesign of Galactus in Rise of the Silver Surfer.
For those unaware, the early 2000s was an era of experimentation for the fledgling superhero genre. In the years before Iron Man formed the foundation for the MCU and all modern superhero flicks, multiple companies tried their hand at their own takes on caped crusaders. Some like X-Men and Hellboy go down as modern classics. Others like Catwoman are considered some of the worst of the genre. Fantastic Four, despite having Jessica Alba as the Invisible Woman and Chris Evans as the Human Torch, falls into the latter category.
The film’s 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer managed to slightly improve on its predecessor by taking things cosmic. While the film had some classic moments like Chris Evans’ Human Torch swapping powers with Michael Chiklis’ Thing and the wedding of Jessica Alba’s Sue Storm and Ioan Gruffudd’s Reed Richards, it is most remembered by its most controversial element: the redesign of Galactus as a floating space blob.
This version of Galactus is infamous among fans for being the worst example of comic book films redesigning characters. Even the director of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer agrees it wasn’t the best design, but concedes it was the best they could do at the time given the very different landscape of superhero films:
“Absolutely not. But I do not have any problem with going on record at the time,” Story told Comicbook.com. “The ones in charge were afraid of what that could be because, you have to remember, even Marvel has gone through quite cleverly and successfully introduced us to superheroes being in space, and at the time that was never dealt with. So as a being from space, there were those in charge who weren’t ready for what that could be. And, so, you know, that’s not the interpretation it should have been. But coming up, there will be some good stuff.”
While general audiences have become used to giant purple men thanks to Thanos in the MCU, Tim Story is right in it likely being a hard pill to swallow twenty years ago. There was no Guardians of the Galaxy equivalent in those days and Marvel Studios was likely hesitant to take the gamble. However, it seems as though Story is confident that the Matt Shakman Fantastic Four reboot will be able to succeed where Rise of the Silver Surfer failed.
What we know about the Fantastic Four movie
The Fantastic Four reboot is expected to be a fresh take on the classic Marvel characters, with a new cast. Matt Shakman is directing the movie from a screenplay by Josh Friedman. It is currently scheduled to hit theaters in 2025.
John Krasinski played the Earth-838 variant of Reed Richards in Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but his future as the character is currently in doubt. Krasinski’s wife Emily Blunt has said that she’s hopeful we’ll see the actor back as Richards for Fantastic Four.
Fantastic Four opens on February 14, 2025. Stay tuned for all the latest news regarding the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!
